A teenager shot dead by a cop was revealed to be the 911 caller who reported himself as a knife-wielding male on a Wisconsin reservation, investigators said.

Jason Pero, 14, refused numerous commands to drop a butcher knife and lunged at Ashland County Sheriff's Deputy Brock Mrdjenovich before he was fatally shot Wednesday, according to the state Department of Justice.

Advertisement

Pero, who was treated at the scene, later died at the hospital.

Mrdjenovich was responding to a call describing an armed, 300-pound male on Maple Street at 11:40 a.m. Investigators now say Jason, who fit the description, made the call himself, WKOW reported.

According to the state division of criminal investigations, the teen had been despondent in the days leading up to the call.

Jason, who was raised by his grandparents Alan and Cheryl Pero, returned home from school on Wednesday with the flu.

Family member said Jason didn't have "one mean bone in his body." (WDIO.com)

He had been lying on the couch, watching TV while nursing a 7-Up before he got up and left. His uncle, who was doing laundry at the time, thought he went outside to throw up.

His family members were unsure why he was armed with a knife, saying Jason "never had one mean bone in his body."

"He got murdered out in front of the house here," Jason's grandfather Alan Pero said. "He's a boy. There's warning shots. There's Tasers. There's pepper spray. You don't go right on a 14-year-old kid and go for the kill zone."

Mrdjenovich, who has worked for the sheriff's office for a year, has been placed on paid administrative leave.